Jamie Samuelsen's blog: Tigers' Andy Dirks should be everyday LF this year

January 26, 2013

Tigers outfielder Andy Dirks / JULIAN H. GONZALEZ/DFP

By Jamie Samuelsen

Detroit Free Press Special Writer

Jamie Samuelsen, co-host of the “Jamie and Wojo” show at 6 p.m. weekdays on WXYT-FM (97.1), blogs for freep.com. His opinions do not necessarily reflect those of the Detroit Free Press nor its writers. You can reach him at jamsam22@gmail.com, follow him on Twitter @jamiesamuelsen and read more of his opinions at freep.com/jamie.

Does Andy Dirks deserve to be an everyday player in leftfield for the Tigers? Why/why not?

There’s something about Andy Dirks that screams, “NOT an everyday player!” I just don’t happen to know what that is.

Dirks enters spring training as the odds-on favorite to win the full-time job in leftfield. He hit .322 last season (second on the team to Miguel Cabrera). He hit better against lefties than he’s given credit for (20-for-73, .274). And he ably played in the outfield. He’ll never be mistaken for a gold-glover in left, but he outplayed everyone in the field other than Austin Jackson and Quintin Berry last season. And with the addition of Torii Hunter in right, outfield defense has become less of a concern than it has been in years. Gone are the days of Magglio Ordoñez, Delmon Young, Ryan Raburn and Brennan Boesch butchering balls in the vast space at Comerica Park.

Or are those days gone?

Boesch is the lone remaining man who might wrestle playing time away from Dirks. He returns to the team that essentially banished him during the postseason last year and it appears that he’ll get another chance to prove himself with the Tigers. Jim Leyland said earlier this week that everyone in the organization has a clean slate, as well they should. With centerfield a lock for Jackson, rightfield nailed down by Hunter and Victor Martinez returning as the full-time DH, it would seem that leftfield is the only place Boesch could squeeze back into the lineup -- bringing us back to Dirks.

Look, Dirks is not some sacred cow that is entrenched in left. I’m all for competition and if Boesch has found his swing (or as he indicates, reworked his old looping look at the plate), then it’s fair that he gets the job. But let’s not hold our breath. This battle, if you can even call it that, boils down to a reliable bat versus the potential for more. And with all the other big thumpers in this Tigers lineup, give me the reliable bat every day of the week.

With Dirks, you pretty much know what you’re going to get. He’ll give you solid at-bats. He’ll occasionally knock one out (eight homers last year). He’ll move runners along. And he’s a versatile guy who can bat second (as he did 42 times in 2012) or he can move down in the order to give the bottom third some added depth. It seemed like every time the Tigers were on national TV last year, you heard one of the ESPN or Fox analysts tell you how impressed they were with Dirks and how he was one of those guys who just knew how to play the game.

Boesch is different. When he’s hot, he’s hotter than anyone in the lineup not named Miguel Cabrera or Prince Fielder. When Boesch was first called up in 2010, he played at an All-Star level, hitting .342 in the first half with 12 HRs and 49 RBIs. He was snubbed from the All-Star game that year, but it seemed like it might be a small slight given his bright future. Little did we know at the time, but that was the high watermark of the Brennan Boesch experience in Detroit.

There have been some moments. And there have been some injuries. But there have also been long, gaping stretches of nothing. If you take a look at Boesch’s splits, you’ll see some tremendous ups, but way more downs. Boesch has been in the majors for seventeen months total. During that time, he’s had a batting average above .250 in only six months. Conversely, he’s been below .210 in six months. That trend seems unlikely to change. In fact, Boesch seems like a prime candidate to become the Ryan Raburn of the 2013 Tigers. The only reason he’s on the roster is the potential to “run into one”. Occasionally he does. But more often than that, he goes down quietly.

Players can change. Jackson returned last spring with a new batting approach and rode that to his best year yet (.377 OBP, .856 OPS). Boesch claims that he has a new swing but won’t reveal any specifics until he debuts it in Lakeland. He’ll have a chance to prove himself just like everyone else. But Dirks has proven over time, not just a compacted spring training, that he can handle the rigors of playing every day, against every pitcher. And he’s earned the chance to start the season in leftfield. I’m not sure what more he needs to do.